Safety Railing Support System

ABSTRACT

A support system for attaching safety railings, especially useful on construction sites. A clamp allows attachment to beams or posts of differing sizes, squeezing the beam or post using mechanical fasteners and, optionally, shims or spacers. A support arm is mounted on the clamp, and upright posts for safety wires or railings are removably mounted to the support arm.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims one or more inventions which were disclosed inProvisional Application No. 61/480,135, filed Apr. 28, 2011, entitled“Safety Railing Clamp System”. The benefit under 35 USC §119(e) of theUnited States provisional application is hereby claimed, and theaforementioned application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The invention pertains to the field of construction safety equipment.More particularly, the invention pertains to safety railings andapparatus for mounting such railings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a support system for attaching safety railings,especially useful on construction sites. A clamp allows attachment tobeams or posts of differing sizes, squeezing the beam or post usingmechanical fasteners and, optionally, shims or spacers. A support arm ismounted on the clamp, and posts for railings that are removably mountedto the support arm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows an exploded view of the parts of one embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 shows a detail of the clamp of the invention, within the box 2-2of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows the invention mounted on an I-beam.

FIG. 4 shows the invention mounted on a post.

FIG. 5 shows an exploded view of the parts of a second embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6 shows a cut-through view of the second embodiment of theinvention, along the lines 6-6 in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 shows a cut-through view of the second embodiment of theinvention, along the lines 7-7 in FIG. 5.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows a view of the safety railing support system of theinvention. The system is used for attaching safety railings, especiallyuseful on construction sites. FIG. 2 shows a detail of the clamp portionof the invention, from the portion of FIG. 1 enclosed in dotted box 2-2.FIG. 3 shows the clamp portion of the invention in use on an I-beam.

The clamp is made up of a clamp base 1 and fastening plates 2. Shims orspacers 3 are provided to keep the clamp aligned when it is in use.Slots or holes 5 in the base plate allow passage of mechanical fastenerssuch as bolts 22, which are threaded into holes 7 in the fasteningplates 2. Alternatively, the holes 5 in the clamp base 1 could bethreaded, and the holes 7 in the fastening plates 2 could be made largeenough to pass the bolts 22, in which case the bolts 22 would betightened from the reverse side. Optionally, the holes 7 in thefastening plate and the holes 5 in the clamp base could both be madelarger, and nuts (not shown) could be threaded onto the bolts 22. Holes5 are preferably made as elongated slots, as shown in the figures, so asto allow the clamp to be used on different sized beams or posts.

A support arm 4 is mounted on the clamp, preferably by having one endwelded onto the clamp base 1. The support arm 4 is preferably of squarestock as shown in the figures, or could be made of I- or U-channel asdesired. A number of holes 9 allow attachment of an upright post 10 bypassing a fastener 14 through holes 13 in flanges 11 and holes 9 in thesupport arm 4. The fastener 14 could be a bolt as shown, secured inplace with nut 15, or the holes in the other flange 11 could be threadedto accept the bolt. Alternatively, the fastener 14 could be a clevis pinor other suitable fastener, held in by a cotter pin or clip, or anyother arrangement known to the art. Holes 12 in the upright post 10allow passage of a safety wire (not shown) connecting a plurality ofupright posts 10 to form a safety railing.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the invention can be used to attach thesupport arm 4 on the clamp base 1 to a flange 21 of an I-beam 20. Theclamp base 1 is placed against the outside of the flange 21, andfasteners 22 on each side of the beam are passed through slots 5 andthreaded into holes 7 in fastening plates 2 behind the flange 21. Shimsor spacers 3 of approximately the same thickness as the flange 21 areput in place, the slots 6 in the shims 3 allowing the shims 3 to slipover the fasteners 22. The fasteners 22 are slid inward in the slots 5until the shims 3 are close to the edges of the flange 21, and then aretightened to clamp the flange 21 securely between the clamp base 1 andfastening plates 2.

FIG. 4 shows an alternative use, in which the invention is used toattach support arm 4 to a square post 25. As with the I-beam flange 21above, the clamp base 1 is placed against the post 25, and the fasteners23 (which need to be longer than the fasteners 21 for I-beams) arethreaded into holes 7 in fastening plates 2 behind the post. Thefasteners 23 are slid inward in the slots 5 until they are close to thesides of the post 25, and then are tightened to clamp the post 25securely between the clamp base 1 and fastening plates 2.

FIG. 5 shows a view of a second embodiment of the invention. The clampsystem in this embodiment is the same as in FIGS. 1-4, and will not beseparately described here.

The embodiment of FIGS. 5-7 differs from the first embodiment in severalways, each variation of which may be used independently or incombination with the embodiment of FIGS. 1-4.

First, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7, this embodiment differs in how theupright post 10 fastens to the support arm 4. Specifically, instead ofbolt 14 passing through holes 9 in support arm 4 as in the firstembodiment, in this embodiment holes 13 in flanges 11 are placed lowerdown, such that bolt 14 passes below support arm 4. Upright post 10 canslide on support arm 4 as before, but instead of being limited to thelocations of pre-drilled holes 9, it can be fastened in place at anypoint along the arm by tightening nut 15 and bolt 14, squeezing arm 4between flanges 11.

FIGS. 5 and 6 show an alternative method of fastening a safety wire 39(not shown in FIG. 5) to the upright post 10. In this embodiment, theupright post 10 is formed with a longitudinal slot 30 running along oneside of the post 10—preferably, as shown here, the inner side closer tothe clamp, although it could also be placed on the opposite side. Theslot could simply be cut or otherwise formed up one side of a square orrectangular box post 10. Preferably, though, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6,post 10 is extruded with a hollow rectangular portion 32 and a “T”shaped slot, having a side-to-side portion 31 and longitudinal slot 30running from portion 31 to the outside of the extrusion.

A fastener 36 having a head 33 is placed with the head 33 throughlongitudinal slot 30, the head extending into the side-to-side portion31. Fastener 36 passes through a hole in a wire grip plate 35, and a nut34 is threaded onto the fastener. While a flat plate 35 could be used,it is preferable to provide a wire groove 38 into which wire 39 can fit.When the plate 35 on fastener 36 is slid into the desired verticalposition along post 10, and nut 34 is tightened onto fastener 36, wire39 is gripped by wire grip plate 35 and held securely against the post10.

While only one plate 35 and fastener 36 is shown in FIG. 5, it will beunderstood that multiple wire grip plates 35 and fasteners 36 could beprovided within the teachings of the invention, to provide for howevermany safety wires 39 are desired.

Finally, as seen in FIG. 7, the same form of extrusion shown for theupright post 10 in FIG. 6 can also be used for the support arm 4. Theextrusion is extruded with a hollow rectangular portion 41 and a “T”shaped slot, having a side-to-side portion 42 and longitudinal slot 43running from portion 42 to the outside of the extrusion along the lengthof support arm 4. This allows a wire support ring 46 to be threaded ontothe end of a fastener 45 which is slid into slot 43. The head 44 of thefastener 45 fits in side-to-side portion 42, and once it is slid intothe desired position along support arm 4, nut 47 can be tightened tohold the fastener 45 in place in slot 43.

A safety wire (not shown) can then be threaded through ring 46, andadditional rings 46 and fasteners 45 can also be provided, so that oneor more safety wires can be provided along the length of the arm 4. Thesame ring 46 and fastener 45 arrangement could also be slid into theslot 30 on upright post 10 and fastened in place by nut 47, as analternative to the wire grip plate 35 or in addition to one or more wiregrip plates 35, or as a location to clip a safety rope, or any otherreason where a ring would be desirable.

Accordingly, it is to be understood that the embodiments of theinvention herein described are merely illustrative of the application ofthe principles of the invention. Reference herein to details of theillustrated embodiments is not intended to limit the scope of theclaims, which themselves recite those features regarded as essential tothe invention.

1. A safety railing support system comprising: a) a clamp comprising: i)a clamp base having a plurality of holes; ii) a plurality of fasteningplates, each plate having a plurality of holes aligned with holes in theclamp base; iii) a plurality of bolts, each passing through a hole inthe clamp base and a hole in a fastening plate, such that tightening thebolts draws the clamp base and the fastening plates together, holdingthe clamp to a support located between the clamp base and the fasteningplates; b) a support arm fastened to the clamp base at one end; and c)an upright post slideably mounted upon an upper surface of the supportarm and held in place by a fastener passing through a plurality offlanges extending downward along sides of the support arm.
 2. Thesupport system of claim 1, in which the clamp further comprises aplurality of spacers between the clamp base and the fastening plates. 3.The support system of claim 1, in which the holes in the clamp base areelongated slots.
 4. The support system of claim 1, in which the holes inthe fastening plates are threaded.
 5. The support system of claim 1, inwhich the fastener holding the upright post on the support arm passesthrough holes in the support arm.
 6. The support system of claim 1, inwhich the fastener holding the upright post on the support arm passesunderneath the support arm, and tightening the fastener draws theflanges together, squeezing the flanges to the support arm.
 7. Thesupport system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of holes inthe upright post, spaced apart along a length of the post, for passageof safety wires.
 8. The support system of claim 1, in which the uprightpost is formed with a longitudinal slot along a length of the post, andthe support system further comprises a wire grip plate held to the postby a fastener passing through the longitudinal slot and having a headinside the post, such that tightening the fastener draws the wire gripplate against the post, gripping a safety wire between the wire gripplate and the post.
 9. The support system of claim 1, in which thesupport arm is formed with a longitudinal slot along a length of thesupport arm, and the support system further comprises a ring slideablymounted to the support arm by a fastener passing through thelongitudinal slot and having a head inside the arm.
 10. The supportsystem of claim 1, in which the support arm is formed from a rectangularextrusion having a width, a depth and a length, comprising: a) a hollowbox section; and b) a T-shaped slot section adjoining the box section,having a side-to-side portion extending across the width of theextrusion and a longitudinal slot portion extending along the length ofthe extrusion, passing from the side-to-side portion to an outside ofthe extrusion.
 11. The support system of claim 10, further comprising awire grip plate held to the post by a fastener passing through thelongitudinal slot and having a head inside the side-to-side portion,such that tightening the fastener draws the wire grip plate against thepost, gripping a safety wire between the wire grip plate and the post.12. The support system of claim 1, in which the upright post is formedfrom a rectangular extrusion having a width, a depth and a length,comprising: a) a hollow box section; and b) a T-shaped slot sectionadjoining the box section, having a side-to-side portion extendingacross the width of the extrusion and a longitudinal slot portionextending along the length of the extrusion, passing from theside-to-side portion to an outside of the extrusion.
 13. The supportsystem of claim 12, further comprising a ring slideably mounted to thesupport arm by a fastener passing through the longitudinal slot andhaving a head inside the side-to-side portion.
 14. The support system ofclaim 1, in which the support arm is welded to the clamp base.